Good morning, and welcome back to CFB Roundup from CFB Home – the first daily newsletter that’s all college football, all the time with no bias, no slant, and no fluff.

TODAY’S SCHEDULE:

Betting Information as of time of writing

North Carolina Hiring Steve Belichick to be DC of Tar Heels

According to CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz, Washington DC Steve Belichick is expected to be joining his father Bill Belichick as the North Carolina DC.

Steve Belichick is currently planning on finishing out his time with Washington by coaching in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl against Louisville on December 31st.

In one season with Washington, the Huskies defense went from 99th to 26th in terms of yardage allowed per game. For the 12 years before being the Washington DC, Steve Belichick spent time in various roles with the Patriots under Coach Bill Belichick, with four seasons as the defensive play-caller.

Steve Sarkisian on Some Key Injuries After First Round CFP Game

Texas Coach Steve Sarkisian opened up on some of the injuries that the Longhorns suffered against Clemson in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

Coach Sarkisian shared, “Tre Wisner kind of banged his knee. He was available to come back in. We made the decision to go with (Jaydon) Blue and (Jerrick) Gibson. Jake Majors on that interception kind of took that blindside shot. He also was available to come back in. We decided to make that decision to hold him. Then, Cam Williams injured his knee there. Tried to go. We’ll get an MRI here this evening and see where he’s at. Those were the three ones there.”

So, it sounds like at least two of the Longhorns should be OK ahead of the next round – the Peach Bowl against Arizona State – with Cam Williams’ status being a little more up in the air.

Arkansas’ Sam Pittman: Portal Players More Expensive Than Expected

Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman recently shared that the cost of players in the transfer portal has been a little bit more this offseason than he was anticipating, which has meant the Razorbacks’ staff has had to make some strategic decisions in how they budget the money they have available to them.

Coach Pittman shared, “yes (the cost of players is more). A lot more. So, at some point, we had to decide are we gonna pay a whole lot of people or are we gonna pay a fewer number of people more money. And that’s kind of where we went in that.”

Both revenue sharing and tampering have complicated things, according to Coach Pittman. On revenue sharing, he believes that has driven the price up even more. And as for tampering, Coach Pittman pointed out many of the same things that have been discussed by coaches before – namely that players are entering the portal knowing where they are going and for how much money, so clearly someone has talked to them already. One big issue which Coach Pittman has discussed is that there are currently no certified agents, and that has really complicated things, while certification could help the coaches and universities navigate the landscape a little easier.

SMU Coach Rhett Lashlee Downplays Weather

SMU Coach Rhett Lashlee shared recently that the 27 degree weather (with a “feels like” temperature in the low teens) did not play that big of a role in the Mustangs’ loss in the first round of the CFP to Penn State.

Coach Lashlee shared, “I think no (impact) whatsoever. Both teams played in the same weather on the same field. Their punter missed a few punts early, our punter missed a punt. We have a kicker who has a strong leg, had a short kick because he missed it. Both teams played in it. I don’t think weather had anything to do with anything.”

Offensive yards were also at a premium, as Penn State finished with 325 yards to SMU’s 253, but ultimately Penn State won much more comfortably on the scoreboard, 38-10.

Steve Sarkisian Effusive in His Praise of Clemson QB Cade Klubnik

Clemson may have lost to Texas 38-24 in the first round of the CFP, but Texas Coach Steve Sarkisian had plenty of positive things to say about Clemson’s QB Cade Klubnik.

Klubnik finished with 336 yards passing and 3 touchdowns, a performance to which Coach Sarkisian shared, “the one thing that they do that makes it difficult is, when they call the traditional plays, he’s equipped enough to see our coverages and then throw to the right people and he’s got the talent to make those throws. Then they call the designed quarterback runs, whether it’s quarterback draws or true quarterback runs that tax you when you’re trying to deploy people to defend them. Then he has the ability to extend plays. How many times did he get outside of the pocket and make some really critical throws for them? So I think we knew it coming in. It was all three of those things were gonna be the challenge of trying to defend him that way.”

Coach Sarkisian also spoke on the road Klubnik has been on since being one of the top recruits a few years ago, “I’m proud of Cade, I’ve known him for a long time. I’ve been recruiting him I feel like forever when he was in high school. The fact that his career didn’t start off maybe the way that he would have liked at Clemson and there was a lot of expectations for him there, but to come out and have the season that he had this year for them to get them to the playoffs, to be ACC champs, that’s a credit to him. He’s a very good football player.”

Florida RB Montrell Johnson Jr. Declares for NFL Draft

Florida RB Montrell Johnson Jr. has declared for the 2025 NFL Draft after finishing with 593 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns on just 100 carries in the 2024 season.

Part of the reason he only ran the ball 100 times on the season was because he missed some time with injury.

Johnson spent his true freshman season at Louisiana before transferring to Florida, following Coach Napier to Florida for his following 3 seasons.

Across his entire collegiate career, Johnson has ran for a little over 3,000 yards and 33 rushing touchdowns. In his first 3 seasons, Johnson had over 800 yards per season, averaging 9 rushing touchdowns per season. His most yards from scrimmage came in 2023, when Johnson ran for 817 yards and had another 236 from receiving, finishing with 1,053 scrimmage yards.

5-Star WR Dallas Wilson Signs with Florida

5-Star WR Dallas Wilson signed with the Florida Gators yesterday after being let out of his financial agreement with Oregon earlier this month.

Wilson was a long-time commitment for Oregon before signing with the Ducks during the Early Signing Period. After signing the paperwork, though, he requested to be released from that agreement, with the understanding that he would almost definitely sign with Florida.

Wilson ranks 2nd at the WR position and 19th nationally according to the On3 industry composite rankings. Florida’s class currently ranks 11th nationally, a ranking which was definitely bolstered by this big pickup for the Gators.

Florida State EDGE Patrick Payton Transfers to LSU

One of the top players in the portal, former Florida State EDGE Patrick Payton, has committed to LSU for his final season of eligibility.

Payton becomes the 13th transfer to sign with LSU and was the #3 ranked EDGE rusher and a top 20 national portal prospect according to On3.

In 40 games with Florida State, Payton finished with 110 tackles, 32 TFLs, 16 sacks, 13 passes defended, and 3 forced fumbles. Suffice to say, this is a huge pickup for the Tigers.

USC WR Duce Robinson Transfers to Florida State

USC transfer WR Duce Robinson announced his intention to transfer to Florida State yesterday.

Robinson was a 5-star recruit in the 2023 class, ranked as the top TE in the country (he was being recruited as a TE, at the time). During this transfer portal window, Robinson was ranked as the 4th best WR available in the portal, choosing Florida State over Arizona State, among others.

In 2024, Robinson finished with 23 catches for 396 yards and 5 touchdowns. Robinson is also a baseball player, playing in 4 games and starting in 2 for the Trojans’ baseball team.

Penn State QB Beau Pribula Transfers to Missouri

Penn State transfer QB Beau Pribula has committed to transfer to Missouri, after choosing Missouri over Iowa, Ole Miss, UCF, and others.

This is a big pickup for Missouri, who is losing starting QB Brady Cook after he started 38 games for the Tigers. Backup QB Drew Pyne still has 2 years of eligibility, but he has not exactly dazzled in his brief opportunities here and there.

Pribula appeared in 24 games with Penn State and comes to Missouri with 2 years of eligibility remaining. In his time with Penn State, he has thrown for 424 yards and 9 touchdowns to just one interception. He also has ran for 571 yards and 10 touchdowns. Pribula was the #4 QB available in the portal according to the On3 industry portal rankings, making this a strong pickup for an SEC team that has a void at QB after Cook’s graduation.

Other Commitments/Decommitments

3-Star (86) TE Emeka Iloh commits to Mississippi State

3-Star (85) S Dylan King flips from Temple to Southern Miss

3-Star (84) S Devontae Grant commits to Temple

3-Star (83) LB Kyle Ferm commits to SMU

3-Star (83) WR Emmanuel Dyson flips from Marshall to St. Francis

Unrated EDGE Mason Alnutt commits to Purdue

Unrated EDGE Hunter Clegg flips from Utah to BYU

Unrated IOL Leivi Semaia commits to East Carolina